KR100207319B1 - A vacuum cooling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vacuum cooling apparatus, and relates to a vacuum cooling apparatus using a vacuum cooling principle through a material whose boiling point is lowered by pressure without using freon gas. A vacuum pump capable of pumping a gaseous medium, a condenser for converting the state of the medium pumped in the vacuum pump from a gas to a liquid state, a water tank for storing a liquid medium supplied from the condenser, and It is composed of an evaporator for converting the liquid medium supplied from the water tank into a gas state using the vacuum pump.

Description

Vacuum cooling system

1 is a view showing a conventional refrigerator.

2 shows the phase equilibrium of a solid-liquid-based system.

3 is a view showing an embodiment of a vacuum cooling device according to the present invention.

4 is a diagram of a vacuum cooling apparatus according to the present invention applied to a refrigerator.

5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the vacuum cooling apparatus according to the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for main parts of the drawings

1: freezer 2: cold storage room

10 compressor 20 condenser

30: evaporator 40: circulation fan

100: vacuum pump 110: water tank

120: water level sensor a, b, c, d, e: solenoid valve

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a vacuum cooling device, and more particularly, to a vacuum cooling device capable of cooling and storing an article by using the vacuum cooling principle using a material whose boiling point can be lowered by pressure.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the conventional refrigerator, the compressor 10 for compressing a refrigerant having a low temperature and low pressure gas state sends a high temperature and high pressure gas state to the condenser 20. As shown in FIG. The condenser 20 cools and condenses the gaseous refrigerant at high temperature and high pressure by external air so as to be in a liquid state, and the refrigerant, which has become a high-pressure liquid state in the condenser 20, is not shown in the drawing. Pass the capillary tube to reduce the pressure. And the evaporator 30 is a refrigerant depressurized by a capillary tube flows into the evaporator 30 to evaporate to a low temperature at a low pressure state to cool the air around the evaporator 30 toward the rear of the refrigerator using the circulation fan 40. It sucks and supplies it to the freezing compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2 to absorb and cool the heat in the storage compartment. Therefore, the storage items stored in the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2 can be freshly stored for a long time.

However, such a conventional refrigerator uses a freon gas that destroys the earth's ozone layer as a refrigerant, thus destroying the environment due to the leakage of the freon gas during breakdown or disposal of the refrigerator, and cooling by using compression of the freon gas. Since the compressor must be operated frequently at the time of rise, noise and power consumption accordingly have many problems.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above problems, the first object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerant that performs the same function in place of the Freon gas that adversely affects the environment, and the second object is to The third object is to provide a vacuum cooling device that can reduce noise since no compressor is used.

Features of the present invention for achieving the above object, a vacuum pump capable of pumping a gaseous medium, and a water tank for storing the medium in the liquid state in the gas of the medium pumped in the vacuum pump, It is composed of an evaporator for converting the liquid medium supplied from the water tank into a gas state using the vacuum pump.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the vacuum cooling device according to the present invention based on the accompanying drawings.

Before explaining the operation of the present invention, the principle of the present invention will be described first.

First, explaining the relationship between the evaporation of water and energy, an energy of about 580 Kcal / Kg is required to evaporate 1 Kg of water. That is, when this amount of heat is supplied to water from the outside, 1 Kg of water evaporates correspondingly. Assuming that the sealed container has a temperature of 1 Kg 80 ° C., and the hot water is to be cooled to 5 ° C., the required amount of heat removed is 1 Kg × 1 × (80 ° C.-50 ° C.) = 75 Kcal.

If the necessary calorific value of removal is supplemented by evaporation, 75 Kcal / (580 Kcal / Kg) = 0.129 Kg of water can be evaporated.

If 75 Kcal of heat is given from the heat of water itself, the temperature will be reduced by the amount of heat applied. That is, when 129 g of water is evaporated, the original 1 kg of water becomes 871 g and the temperature becomes 5 ° C.

In order to lower the high temperature water to a low temperature and evaporate the water, a vacuum container and a vacuum pump are required.

Second, Fig. 2 shows the phase equilibrium of a solid-liquid-based system, showing the phases and the changes they can have as the pressure and temperature of the pure material change. At pressure A, the material is present in the mixed phase A of liquid and gas at temperature A 'as the temperature increases. At pressure B lower than pressure A, there is a mixed state B of liquid and gas at temperature B 'lower than temperature A'.

In addition, the material requires high heat of vaporization as it phase changes from liquid to gaseous.

The principle of the present invention is explained on the basis of the first and second descriptions above, and when the pressure is reduced to a point B at a given pressure C and temperature C ', the substance becomes a saturated liquid and starts to evaporate so that the mixed state of liquid and gas At this time, the ambient temperature is lowered due to the heat of vaporization. Only by lowering the pressure can the material be changed to a low temperature gaseous state. That is, in order to change the substance from the liquid state to the gas state at low temperature, a low pressure vacuum state is required. That is, even if a conventional refrigerator cycle using a freon gas and a compressor is not constituted, a material whose boiling point is lowered by the pressure can be used as the refrigerant by simply lowering the pressure. In the present invention, a case where water is used as a refrigerant will be described.

3 is a view showing a vacuum cooling device according to the present invention, Figure 4 is a view of applying the vacuum cooling device to the refrigerator.

The vacuum pump 100 which maintains the interior of the evaporator 30 located at the rear of the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2 in a vacuum state, that is, a low pressure state, has a condenser for converting water vapor into water at low temperature and high pressure through a pipe ( 20 is connected, the condenser 20 is connected to the water tank 110 for storing the condensed water, the water tank 110, the vaporized water vapor when the vacuum state by the vacuum pump 100 It is connected to the evaporator 30 to send the condenser 20 through the vacuum pump 100.

And, the evaporator 30 is attached to the water level sensor 120 for measuring and controlling the amount of water supplied from the water tank 110, the circulation fan 40 for cold air circulation is attached to the vicinity of the evaporator (30). It is.

In addition, between the evaporator 30 and the vacuum pump 100, between the vacuum pump 100 and the condenser 20, between the condenser 20 and the water tank 110, respectively (a), (b), ( c) is connected, and two solenoid valves (d) and (e) are connected between the water tank 110 and the evaporator 30.

The operation of the vacuum cooling device configured as described above is as follows.

When operating the vacuum pump 100 to lower the temperature of the freezing chamber 1 and the refrigerating chamber 2, first, the solenoid valves a, b, c are opened and the solenoid valves d, e are closed. By maintaining the inside of the evaporator 30 in a low pressure state in a vacuum state in the vacuum pump 100, the water in the evaporator 30 is sent to the condenser 20 through the vacuum pump 100 in the water vapor state. Then, the water changed in the condenser 20 is sent back to the water tank 110, the water of the water tank 110 is sent back to the evaporator 30 to form a continuous cycle.

Therefore, the pressure decreases from liquid to gas even at a low temperature, and at this time, it absorbs the heat required for vaporization from the surroundings, thereby lowering the temperature of the evaporator 30. The circulation fan 120 installed near the evaporator 30 or in a portion that facilitates cold air circulation supplies the cold air generated from the evaporator 30 to the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2, thereby freezing compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2. ) Will be lowered.

When the temperature or vacuum pressure at the appropriate level is reached, the vacuum pump 100 is stopped and all the solenoid valves a, b, c, d, and e are closed at the same time. This is to prevent the high temperature and high pressure gas near the condenser 20 from being detained into the low temperature and low pressure evaporator 30.

On the other hand, the water level sensor 120 is connected to the solenoid valve (d, e) by the detection of the water level sensor 120 so that the water of the appropriate level in the evaporator 30, the evaporator 30 in the water tank 110 To control the amount of water supplied. First, when only the solenoid valve (e) is opened, the high-pressure water remaining between the solenoid valve (d) and the solenoid valve (e) flows into the evaporator 30 because the pressure inside the evaporator 30 is low, and the solenoid valve ( When e) is closed and the solenoid valve (d) is temporarily opened, the high pressure water is filled in the pipe between the two solenoid valves (d) and (e). When the low water level signal of the water level sensor 120 is generated, the solenoid valve e is opened again to supply water to the evaporator 30.

5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the vacuum cooling apparatus according to the present invention, the operation description described above will be described again in order.

A step S10 is performed to determine whether the temperatures of the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2 are appropriate or high. If the temperature inside the refrigerator is appropriate, the operation of the vacuum pump 100 is stopped and the solenoid valves (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) are all closed (S20).

However, if the temperature inside the refrigerator is high, a step S30 of operating the vacuum pump 100 is performed to cool the refrigerator. In the operation (S30) of operating the vacuum pump 100, the solenoid valves (a), (b) and (c) are opened, and the solenoid valves (d) and (e) are closed. In operation, the water in the evaporator 30 is vaporized.

In operation S30 of operating the vacuum pump 100, the water of the evaporator 30 is evaporated into water vapor, and then condensation is performed (S32). Only the solenoid valve c is opened for this condensation. Therefore, the vaporized vapor in the evaporator 30 is converted into water of low temperature and high pressure in the condenser 20 via the vacuum pump 100 and stored in the water tank 110.

After the step (S32) of performing the condensation, the water level sensor 120 attached to the evaporator 30 performs a step (S34) of measuring the amount of water in the evaporator (30). If an appropriate amount of water remains, the process returns to step S10 to determine whether the temperature of the freezer compartment 1 and the refrigerating compartment 2 is appropriate or high, and if the water is short, between the water tank 110 and the evaporator 30. Performing a step (S36) of supplying water to the evaporator 30 by controlling the two solenoid valve (d, e) in.

Control of the solenoid valve (d), (e) in the step (S36) of supplying water to the evaporator 30 is as follows. First, when only the solenoid valve (e) is opened, the high pressure water remaining between the solenoid valve (d) and the solenoid valve (e) flows directly into the evaporator 30 because the internal pressure of the evaporator 30 is low. Next, the solenoid valve (e) is closed and the solenoid valve (d) is temporarily opened so that the high pressure water is stored in the pipe between the solenoid valve (d) and the solenoid valve (e).

When the water supply operation for supplying water to the evaporator 30 is performed, the water level sensor 120 again measures the amount of water, and if it is insufficient, performs the water supply operation again, and performs step 10 when it is determined that it is appropriate.

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the vacuum cooling principle using a material having a low boiling point due to pressure, it is possible to reduce environmental pollution and to reduce noise and power consumption.

Claims (1)

A vacuum pump capable of pumping a gaseous medium in which the boiling point can be lowered by pressure, a condenser for converting a state of the medium pumped in the vacuum pump from a gas to a liquid state, and a liquid medium supplied from the condenser A water tank for storing water, an evaporator for converting the liquid medium supplied from the water tank into a gas state using the vacuum pump, and measuring the amount of the liquid medium to vaporize a certain amount of the liquid medium And a water level sensor attached to one side of the evaporator and a solenoid valve connected to control the flow of the medium between the vacuum pump, the condenser, and the water tank and the evaporator under a controlled state.